A Sub-30 mpH Resolution Thin Film Transistor-Based Nanoribbon Biosensing Platform

Abstract

We present a complete biosensing system that comprises a Thin Film Transistor (TFT)-based nanoribbon biosensor and a low noise, high-performance bioinstrumentation platform, capable of detecting sub-30 mpH unit changes, validated by an enzymatic biochemical reaction. The nanoribbon biosensor was fabricated top-down with an ultra-thin (15 nm) polysilicon semiconducting channel that offers excellent sensitivity to surface potential changes. The sensor is coupled to an integrated circuit (IC), which combines dual switched-capacitor integrators with high precision analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). Throughout this work, we employed both conventional pH buffer measurements as well as urea-urease enzymatic reactions for benchmarking the overall performance of the system. The measured results from the urea-urease reaction demonstrate that the system can detect urea in concentrations as low as 25 μM, which translates to a change of 27 mpH, according to our initial pH characterisation measurements. The attained accuracy and resolution of our system as well as its low-cost manufacturability, high processing speed and portability make it a competitive solution for applications requiring rapid and accurate results at remote locations; a necessity for Point-of-Care (POC) diagnostic platforms.

Multi-Segment TFT Compact Model for THz Applications

“…Thin-film transistor (TFT) technology has found numerous applications including large area and flexible displays [ 1 , 2 ], sensitive skin [ 3 ], biomedical and chemical sensors [ 4 ], and radio frequency identification (RFID) sensors [ 5 ]. The TFT liquid-crystal display (LCD) attained approximately USD 164 billion market size in 2020 and is expected to grow with a 5.2% rate for 2021–2026 [ 6 ].…”

Fast and Sensitive Ellipsometry-Based Biosensing

“…Most metabolic and immunological effects are followed from the interactions between biomolecules like antibodies, DNA, RNA, proteins, or whole cells [ 1 ]. The information on the binding of a ligand to its receptor can provide instructions in the drug discovery process, and the accurate detection of disease biomarker has been widely applied for disease diagnosis and state monitoring [ 2 , 3 ]. In the past few decades, various sensor-based platforms have been employed to determine the specificity, kinetics, and affinity of a wide variety of biomolecular interactions and the concentration of analyte [ 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ], while the search for new method is of constant interest and challenge in this scientific field in order to develop more robust, rapid, sensitive, and cost-effective biosensing platforms.…”